Buck to Watch Golf, Clay Previews Fall Football Tour

BUCK: Clay, you know, I don’t talk about what I do these days ’cause, you know what I do? I basically eat, sleep, breathe radio.

CLAY: (chuckles)

BUCK: I go to bed at night reading books about politics. I wake up in the morning texting you stories that we have to get to. You have a family and kids, so you’ve actually got adult responsibilities. I just live in the matrix of conservative media all day. But I am going to go to a golf tournament this weekend that I’ve been invited to by some friends who really want me to come down, the BMW Championship. I have never… Okay. I don’t play golf. I think I understand the basic rules. I’ve never been to a golf tournament. What am I in for?

CLAY: Where is the BMW Championship?

BUCK: Baltimore area.

CLAY: Okay.

BUCK: Outside of Baltimore.

CLAY: So, I love to play golf. I’m awful at it. The golf tournament experience is really fun. If you are able to find a good place, if the weather is good, and you can just kick back and have some drinks, right? I think that is the most fun thing about a golf tournament. The most impressive thing about seeing pro golf in person is if you can get near the tee boxes and just see how hard these guys swing.

I don’t think television does justice for the torque that they put through to make contact with the ball. I’ve done a bunch of Celebrity Pro-Ams and (chuckling) whenever I’m in the tee box, Buck, I’m just thinking, “I hope I don’t kill somebody 20 yards to the right or 20 yards to the left, ’cause I have no idea where this tee shot’s gonna go consistently.” But it’s a lot of fun. I think you’re in for a good time hanging out at the Championship.

And I’ve gotten to go and broadcast from a bunch of these events. Golfers, I bet, a ton of them, are listening to the show, paying attention to what’s going on. It’s a good group of dudes, and I imagine as you walk around the course you will see and meet a lot of Clay and Buck listeners, which is a fun overlap to do. So, that’s pretty cool.

BUCK: Can I just say we always joke around that my dad is kind of like the guy from Caddyshack who insists on playing through the hurricane situation, the crazy rainstorm with the lightning and everything and then finally gets struck by lightning. If it is possible, my dad’s the guy who will go out to play golf every day of the week.

And I’m like, “Dad, isn’t there almost snow on the ground? It’s 20 degrees,” or whatever. “Oh, it’s great! The course is kind of empty.” He loves it. He’s all about it. So, I’m worried that if I dabble, all of a sudden I’m just gonna be somebody who’s, “Oh, gotta go golfing this weekend! Gotta go golfing every weekend.”

CLAY: Well, I used to play a decent amount before I had the three kids ’cause they just kind of vacuum up everything. So, this weekend I’ve got flag football. I’ve got soccer. And, Buck, this is the last weekend where I will be 100% home until December because we’re starting this college football bus tour. They’re basically putting me in the John Madden Cruiser.

So, for anybody out there listening who’s going to be at a major college football game all over the South, you can follow me @ClayTravis. We’ll be in Charlotte next weekend for the Georgia-Clemson gang. We’re gonna be in Knoxville on Thursday for the start of the Southeastern Conference football schedule. We’re gonna be everywhere.

BUCK: Is your cohost invited to any fun tailgate parties, Buddy? What’s going on here?

CLAY: You are welcome to any of them. We put the first three weeks out. So we’re gonna be in Charlotte, also Knoxville. We are gonna be in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Texas-Arkansas game. And then we’re gonna be down in Gainesville, Florida, for Alabama-Florida and from there we’ll continue. But we’re gonna throw an awesome tailgate. I’ll be on Fox & Friends for those of you who wake up on Saturday morning and flip on Fox News.

It is probably a lot of people. I’ll be on that show every single Saturday and I’ll be on the Big Noon Kickoff show. So, this weekend, honestly, I’m just trying to kick my feet up and relax because, in addition to everything else going on, boom! I’ll be on the road for college football the entire fall. I can’t wait, but it’s gonna be kind of a hectic schedule.

BUCK: If I had to go, if I had to ask you…

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: This is hot seat time, Travis.

CLAY: Yeah, put me on the spot.

BUCK: No wiggling out of this one. I have never been to a college football game in my life. Never been to one.

CLAY: Really?

BUCK: Wait. I think… Well, not including —

CLAY: Like Amherst or something.

BUCK: I meant go to one and just be a fan. If I could come to one game — if I want the most extravaganza, crazy experience of an SEC football game, for example — what would be the matchup? I’ll ask you for the matchup that I should go to see this time.

CLAY: It can vary year to year, but if I were you, over the last decade, the best SEC football game has been LSU-Alabama, right? So, LSU is playing at Alabama in Tuscaloosa, just a little bit hour-ish outside of Birmingham. If you wanted just a “holy cow, I can’t believe this is real” experience, Ole Miss, University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, in The Grove, Buck.

You will walk around the tailgate scene there, and you will think to yourself, “I can’t believe that this place exists.” So we will be at both of those places during the course of the year. We’ll be in Oxford, Lane Kiffin’s school, the head coach there, a lot of fun, big fan. You get to meet the coaches. And then we’ll be in Tuscaloosa as well. So both of those experiences, because LSU — and, by the way, LSU fans might be the most fun fans in the entire country. I mean, they are mad men and women when it comes to just their pregame party routine. Cajun life is like nothing else.

BUCK: I gotta go check this out. This sounds like… I can’t drink beer; so I’ll bring my own Zima. But I’ll show up, and I’ll check… For medical reasons, by the way — before people think I’m a communist — I can’t have gluten, which is in beer.

CLAY: You can the drink tequila, though.

BUCK: Oh, yeah!

CLAY: But I brought my friends downtown to LSU for a game, East Coast friends, like you, Buck, East Coast friends. They had never spent any time around college football. As we were walking into the game after tailgating for several hours, one of them turns to me, and he said, “I don’t understand how these LSU fans are still able to walk. They drink and the Cajun lifestyle. I’ve never seen anything like it.” It is a party the likes of which you have never experienced.

BUCK: I bet the food… I bet the tailgate food, Louisiana food is great.

CLAY: Incredible experience.

BUCK: Even snooty northeasterners, even people that live in Brooklyn and describe themselves as foodies are like, “Oh, but Louisiana food is really good.”

CLAY: Oh, it’s incredible. So, I’ll be on the road all fall.

BUCK: I’m looking forward to meeting people. (high-pitched voice) “Excuse me, everybody. My friend, Clay Travis, is, like, big deal here, and I would like a seat.”

CLAY: (laughing)

BUCK: I’ll be running around. “Who are you?” “I don’t really know sports, but Clay does!” It will be fun. It will be fun. I’ll come check out. I’ll hang out.

CLAY: We’re gonna have a good collection of people I think at all these places. I’m excited to meet… It’s great. I’m excited to meet so many different listeners who I know will be on the road just ready… You know, Buck, for our listeners in particular people are just ready to get back to normalcy, and having a big, fun party atmosphere surrounding a college football game.

BUCK: It’s a celebration of life and freedom, Travis.

CLAY: It is really a celebration of life.

BUCK: That’s what it’s gonna be.

CLAY: It is.

BUCK: So, just under that banner, I have to come check out one of these games.

CLAY: Red states are ready to party, Buck.